House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-OH), who also serves on the House Oversight Committee, harshly criticized the Department of Justice naming U.S. Attorney David Weiss Special Counsel in the Hunter Biden investigation.
CBS News correspondent Margaret Brennan asked Turner if he had “confidence in him and his ability to conclude this in a fair way.”
“Obviously, there are concerns,” Turner responded. “I also looked at the appointment and the appointment seems more narrow than what Bill Barr had given him. … It is limited to the case that was brought before him initially, that that’s the scope, instead of all of the matters related to unpaid taxes.”
Then Turner targeted his central criticism, saying, “The concern here, obviously, with Weiss being Special Counsel is that he was the one that allowed the statute limitations to expire on some very critical felony charges that could have been brought against Hunter Biden.”
“Why would he have done that?” Brennan queried.
“The IRS whistleblower said that it was interference from the Department of Justice,” Turner answered. “There’s some question as to whether or not it’s a prosecutorial misconduct, but it certainly could be a prosecutorial malpractice. In any event, when you’ve been given the charge to handle claims of such explosive nature and allow the statute of limitations to expire, resulting in – you know, Hunter Biden has in his pocket $125,000 worth of taxes that were owed to the United States that, as a result of these being expired, remain in his pocket.”
Brennan then argued that Republicans seemed to be alleging that a conspiracy allowed the statute of limitations to expire, saying, “Why would a U.S. attorney appointed by President Trump working under a Republican Attorney General with career prosecutors have that level of conspiracy?”
“That’s not conspiracy. That actually occurred,” Turner noted of the expiration.
“Deliberately allow for the statute of limitations to pass?” Brennan pressed.
“I think those are questions he has to answer and why did this occur.” Turner said of Weiss. Then he sharpened his attack: “The IRS whistleblowers said that it was interference from the Department of Justice that allowed them to expire. The prosecutor, Weiss, had been working with Hunter Biden and his attorney and actually been getting waivers for types of limitations period and he stopped getting the waivers. So he certainly was knowledgeable, aware that it was going to be expiring and then something occurred where he allowed those to expire.”
“But, you know, also his appointment is coming right on the heels of James Comer’s release of bank records that indicate that we’re now up to $20 million worth of funds that came from foreign sources … the bank records are right on the website of the House Oversight Committee over $20 million, released August 9, that went to Hunter Biden and his family and business associates that come from China, Russia,” Turner asserted. “You know, as Chairman of the Intelligence Committee, serving on the Armed Services Committee, this is of great concern, because you have foreign individuals that are making payments to the son of the vice president, now son of the president, and obviously they’re buying something. They weren’t buying his business advice; they were buying influence.”
When Brennan argued that Hunter Biden’s attorney had claimed to her that no crime had been substantiated on that front, then smiled, “He has a different standard than members of Congress because what you do is political and he has to meet a legal benchmark in court as with those Justice Department prosecutors,” Turner fired back, “I think what he just did was actually very political. He’s not in court when he’s on your show.”